Camera with range finder



a I Q Sept. 6', 1938.. H. NAGEL 2,129,229

. CAMERA WITH RANGE FINDER Filed March 5, 1937 FIG.Z..

ATTORNEYS '35 fo -each type of camera, but, according to the E, thecam surface Z2 is maintained. in engage- 3-) Patented Sephfi, 1938 I I r I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CAMERA WITH'KRANGE FINDER Hugo Nagel, Harrow, England, assignor to Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application March 5, 1937, Serial No. 129,243

In Great Britain April 7, 1936 2 Claims. (Cl. 95-44) This invention relates to cameras having range a support 5 which is pivoted about a point 6 finders coupled therewith' and is brought into operative position by an erect- Cameras of the folding bed type may be divided ing bar "i when the camera is opened. The self into two classes; first, those which focus by moverecting front mechanism is not shown in great ing the objective mount with respect to the detail as it permits the invention to be more 5 camera housing (i. e. the sliding bed type); secclearly shown, but it may be of any well known 0nd, those which focus by rotating the lens or a or suitable type. A lens 8 carried by the lens portion of it, which is mounted on a screw with mount 4 may be focused in a well-known manner respect to the lens board. In connection with by rotating a ring 9 by means of a handle i0 is cameras of the sliding bed type, many methods in the direction of the arrow E. Any suitable type 10 have been proposed whereby the adjusting moveof rotating member may be employed without ment of the camera bed may be coupled with the departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

light deviating means of a range finder. A range finder of any suitable type such as It is an object of the invention to provide a that shown at H is secured to the camera housing coupling means betweenthe range finder light I. The range finder it comprises an eye-piece l5 deviator and the camera focusing adjuster on l2, two front windows M and I 6, a fixed semicameras of the objective focusing type. transparent mirror 83, and a reflector i5 rotat- It is a special object of the invention to proably mounted on a shaft H to operate as the vide a coupling means which employs a cam light deviating means of the range finder. whereby a relatively large movement of the focus- The shaft ll'l projects through the camera housing adjuster with respect to the cam surface, proins l nd pp r a ver r '8 which exten s duces a relatively small movement of the range toward the front of the camera and, when the finder light deviating means. As a result of this camera is in operative position, engages a notch feature of the'invention, it is possible to employ in one arm 24% of a bell-crank lever pivotally se- 25 a cam which is simple to manufacture and gives cured by a pivot w to the 19115 mount The accurate results. lever arm i8 is urged into engagement with this It is a further object of the invention to probell-crank lever arm 24 by means of a spring 25 vide a coupling means whereby a range finder secured to the camera housingi. may be readily adapted to many of the existing The other arm 2i of the bell-crank lever comobjective focusing type cameras. If this adaptaprises a cam shaped member having a cam surtion is made during the manufacturing stages, it face 22 which engages a small lug l9 mounted will be necessary to alter the production tools for On the f u Ting the camera parts only a negligible amount. A When the camera objective is focused by rodiflerentshape cam would probably be required tating the ring 9 in the direction of the arrow invention the arrangement is such that this cam ment with the lug' i9 011 the r g 9 by t e t rn. is not difiicult to make. sion of the spring 25 transmitted through the Other objects and advantages of the invenlever arm l8 and the bell-crank arm 24. Thus, tion will be apparent from the accompanying rotation of the ring 9 and its lug l9 produces a 40 drawing in which similar reference numeralsinrelatively-small predetermined amount of rota- 40 cheats similar details and in which, tion of the bell-crank lever comprising arms 2| Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a camera emand24. This movement is transmitted through ploylng one embodiment of the invention. the lever arm E8 to its supporting shaft I1 wherek Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the arrangement by the range finder light deviating means I5 is shown in Fig. 1. adjusted.

. Figs. 3 and flare side elevations illustrating If the lug 9 w a the ar p riphery howthe'camera shown in Figs. 1 and 2 operates of the ring 9 wouldv not serve to actuate a cam when being closed. in contact therewith. since this periphery is conv Fig. 5 is a front elevation showing another emcentric with the axis of rotation of the ring. bodiment of the invention. Any interruption in this periphery or any mem- 50 In Figs. 1 and 2, a camera is shown having 9. her such as lug l9 which engages'the cam surhousing I and a folding bed 2 hingedly attached face 22 with a surface non-concentric with the to the housing at the point 3. The camera has axis will actuate the cam. In practice, the cam a self-erecting feature of a well-known type actuating surface. must have at least two points comprising a lens mount 4 rotatably attached to at diflferent distances from theaxis i. e., the sur- 66 face must vary radially with respect to the axis. This radial variation is of course with longitude measured in the usual way along any concentric circle and is not a variation with time.

It is to be understood that the range finder light deviating means may be of any suitable type such as a rotating wedge with suitable coupling means without departing from the spirit of the invention.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the lever arm i8 is so shaped that it does not interfere with the closing or opening of the camera and is automatically brought into operative position when the cam- "era is opened. During the opening and closing of the camera, the relative movements of the lens board 4, the support 5 and the erecting arm "I,

are well known to those skilled in the art. As

the camera is closed the end 24 of the bell-crank lever slides along the upper edge of the lever arm l8 which is so shaped that no interference arises between it and the camera bed 2 which rotates about the point 3. When the camera is completely closed, the lever arm l8 lies between the lens 8 and the pivot which attaches the lens mount 4 to the support 5. Various alternative arrangements of these members which will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, may be used without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Fig. 5 shows a similar arrangement of the invention having a somewhat different form of engagement between the lever arm I8 and the bell crank arm 24 (i. e. the notch grip is eliminated). In this alternative arrangement, the lens mount 4 extends downward and has an edge 26 against which lever arm I8 rests and is held by its own inherent resilience. This edge 26 may be formed as a shallow elongated notch in the lens mount 4 whereby upper and lower limits for the vertical motion of the lever arm 18 are provided.

In either embodiment of the invention shown, an additional spring 21 may be mounted on the lens mount 4 to assist the spring 25 in maintaining the bell crank lever cam 22 in engagement with the lug I! on the focusing ring 9. In practice, these two added features shown in Fig. 5, provide a more positive control of the adjustment of the range finder light deviating means relative to the motion of the focusing adjuster 9.

By using this invention, it is possible to convert many types of objective focusing cameras without a range finder to cameras having a range finder coupled therewith. As pointed out above it, is usually "necessary to employ a diflerent cam for each type of lens and focusing adjuster. The mounting of the bell-crank lever on the lens board and the lug I9 on the focusing ring is, in most cases, a relatively simple matter. It is also usually practical to-attach a housing II to the side of a camera not originally intended for range finders.

Having thus described embodiments of the invention, I wish to point out that it is not limited to the structures shown but is of the scope of the appended claims. I

What I claim and wish to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In combination with a camera of the focusing objective type and having a' housing, a bed hingedly attached to the housing, a lens board supporting the objective, 9, support for the lens board mounted on the carriers bed, a rotatable member mounted on the lens board for focusing the objective, said rotatable member having a cam follower-whose cam contacting surface varies radially with longitude with respect to the axis of rotation, a cam parallel to the plane of rotation of said member also mounted on the lens board and non-concentrically engaging the cam follower to be moved thereby, a range finder mounted on the camera housing and having a light deviating means, and a member pivotally secured to the camera housing engaging the cam and the range finden light deviating means whereby rotation of the bcusing member is transmitted in a predetermined manner by the cam to adjust the range finder light deviating means.

2. In combination with a camera of the focusing objective type and having a housing, a bed hingedly attached to the housing, a lens board supporting the objective, a support forthe lens board mounted on the camera bed, a rotatable member mounted on the lens board for focusing the objective, said rotatable member having a cam follower whose cam contacting surface varies radially with longitude with respect to the axis of rotation, a bell crank lever having a cam surface so mounted on the lens board that the cam surface engages'laterally and non-concen trically the cam follower, a range finder mounted on the camera housing and having alight deviating means, a shaft through the camera housing engaging the light deviating means and a lever secured to said shaft, extending toward the lens mount and engaging the bell crank lever whereby movement of the rotatable focusing member is transmitted in a predetermined manner by the cam, the bell crank lever, the lever secured to said shaft and the shaft to adjust the range finder 

